Kazakhstan

Orthodox Church

On the return from Tajikistan, we spent the night in Tashkent yet again before flying to Almaty the next morning and saying goodbye to Uzbekistan for good. In Almaty we met our guide for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Sove't. Sove't was very nice and young and intelligent, but with an extremely logical mind and pretty anxious. After laid back Bek, it took as a while to get used to Sove't careful calculations of exact departure times, but he grew on us.

View from the gondola ride

Almaty was the most "westernized" city we visited. Obviously Ashgabat was built recently and looks very modern, but it was empty. Almaty was a bustling urban center with lots of familiar brand name stores and a very fancy Folk Instruments museum. We also visited a Russian Orthodox church and walked by a World War 2 memorial before driving to take a cable car up into the mountains. The mountains were pretty, but fairly deforested in sections. We stayed in a very nice, full European style hotel for our one night. We were all almost tempted to just stay in the hotel and soak up their spa experience and delicious breakfast, but we had to leave the next day for Kyrgyzstan.

Before leaving for Krygyzstan, we went to the big main museum, another monument and a bazaar. We then set off on our drive. We were keeping the same guide, driver and car so we were able to have Sove't help us with the border formalities, which were busy and crowded. 

Details of what we did:

Day 13: Tuesday, August 20, Tashkent –Almaty (Kazakhstan)

·       Flight to Almaty –big thriving city very European in feel. Big brand name shops. Met by guide Sove’t 

·       Panfilov Park with Cathederal of Holy Ascension and Glory Memorial to the 28 soldiers killed by German tanks.

·       Museum of National Folk Musical Instruments –very modern, hi-tech museum well worth the visit. A good museum guide.

·       Mountains Shymbulak –take cable car to 1st observation stage and have drink and bun at Pappa Roti. On way up have great views and see famous ice-skating rink used in past by Russian Olympiads.

Day 14, Wednesday, August 21, Almaty- Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)

·       Central State Museum

·       Independence Monument 

·       Green Bazaar (bought more dried fruit and CDs)

·       Leave for Bishkek and drive through Kazakh Steppe

·       Border crossing. Sove’t with us this time so able to get lots of help. More chaotic, more people than other border crossings as lots of Kazakhs going to Issy-Kul resort.